Safety systems often must be able to detect the presence of a human body or some portion thereof in a dangerous location. For instance, interruption of a beam in a light curtain is used to sense the presence of an operator near a dangerous machine. When the beam is broken, the machine can be shut down automatically to reduce the chance of injury. Light curtains, however, are limited to protecting areas that can be bounded by planar surfaces, and that will not be penetrated by any object, not just humans. However, there are many instances where workpieces must enter an area that cannot be protected by a light curtain because the light curtain cannot distinguish between a human and a workpiece.
As a solution to the problem of distinguishing work pieces from humans, numerous radio frequency proximity detection systems have been developed. The radio-frequency systems create a radio-frequency electric field in a protected area that is altered when some part of a human body enters the area. A limitation with such systems is that they are not very discrete in detection. More specifically, it is very difficult to precisely define the protection area with radio-frequency systems. Typically, the system cannot determine the distance to the body accurately and therefore a hand or body at long range may generate the same signal change as a finger in closer proximity. As a result, radio-frequency systems are prone to false trips or may miss actual dangerous conditions.
In view of the limitations of the prior art detection systems, it would be desirable to have a system that could reliably and discretely detect proximity between a user and a dangerous location prior to actual contact.